This invention relates to a single multifunctional detergent material comprising inorganic compounds containing inorganic oxides used in laundry and cleaning products.
Conventional laundry and cleaning products contain numerous inorganic compounds, usually in a form comprising one or two inorganic oxides. Each of such compounds performs one or more functions, such as the functions of a builder, a conditioner, an alkaline agent, a filler, a carrier, and a neutralizing agent, in the detergent and/or in the process for its manufacture. A high number of raw materials which can be used for a particular laundry or cleaning product formulation, imparting their respective functions, can account for a considerable portion of the cost of producing the detergents. Each raw material has its separate processing cost, transportation cost, operating expense, and other fixed or variable costs.
The processing of laundry and cleaning products has generally involved the separate addition of the inorganic oxides in the process for making the product, involving the storage, feeding, and control of the inorganic oxide stock into the process stream to deliver the target level of inorganic oxide actives into the product. Depending upon the amount or mass rate of a stock to be used, and the physical and flow properties and chemical purity of the stock, the actual level of inorganic oxide active can vary more or less than the target level in the detergent product. Consequently, manufacturers incur a significant cost and expense in installing feeders and controllers to deliver the appropriate amount and rate of stock material, and in analyzing raw material stock and finished detergent products for the appropriate level of inorganic oxide active.
The most common inorganic oxides that are found in inorganic compounds that are used to make laundry and cleaning products are phosphorus oxide (P2O5), sodium oxide (Na2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and silica (SiO2). Other additional oxide ingredients can include boron oxide (B2O3) and sulfur trioxide (SO3). Usually, these inorganic oxides are combined with sodium oxide (Na2O) or other alkali or alkali metal oxide to form and make the commercially-available inorganic compounds that can be processed into laundry and cleaning. For example, the silica can be delivered into the product in the form of amorphous or crystalline silicate having the general formula xSiO2:Na2O, where x is about 1 to about 3.8. Silica can also be introduced as an aluminosilicates such as a zeolite, and as a layered silicate. Phosphorous oxide is commonly supplied in the form of hydrated or anhydrous sodium tripolyphosphate (Na5O10P3), tetrasodum pyrophosphate (Na4O7P2), and orthophosphate (Na3O4P).
The pure inorganic oxides and/or inorganic compounds are generally obtained from nature in the form of minerals and ores. Natural sources of silica are silica sand, quartzite, and cristobalite. A natural source of phosphorous oxide is phosphoric rock. A natural source of sodium carbonate is trona. Natural sources of sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) are mirabilite and thenardite.
The natural sources of inorganic oxides may contain impurities or inert by-products which are normally removed from the natural material before or during converting to the inorganic compound commercial stock. Sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), for example, is made by first reacting ground phosphoric rock with sulfuric acid to form phosphoric acid; silica (SiO2) is an impurity of this reaction which is ordinarily filtered from the phosphoric acid. In turn, the phosphorus acid is reacted with sodium carbonate to form STPP. The silica impurity, though eliminated from the STPP, is nevertheless a material which is commonly present in detergent formulation in some other form.
Sodium carbonate, a common source of Na2O, can be obtained from the treatment of trona mineral by a process including grinding, diluting, filtering to eliminate compounds considered as impurities (including again silica), and crystallizing, to obtain the sodium carbonate. The sodium silicate can be obtained from melt reacting a mixture of silica sand and sodium carbonate at high temperatures in a furnace.
Silica is an impurity compound in these natural sources of inorganic oxides, and the processing required to eliminate the silica impurity from each individual natural raw material contributes to some of the cost of the detergent chemical compounds, and consequently to the final detergent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,960, issued to Fukuyama et al. On Jan. 13, 1998, discloses an amorphous sodium silicate-metal sulfate composite powder for use as a detergent builder. The powder is made by heat fusing a metal sulfate, silica, and sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide at a temperature and time sufficient to fuse the SiO2; cooling the fused mixture into cullet, and grinding the cullet into the composite powder.
WO 9902643 (Vitro Corporation) discloses a process for making a multifunctional component for detergent compositions, by mixing natural and treated minerals containing the essential oxides for the detergent compositions, and reacting the mixture in a furnace, thereby forming a powder or glass containing the essential oxides.
However, phosphate builders such as STPP and TSPP are important laundry and cleaning product ingredients, and are widely used in many parts of the world as the principle detergent builder. Consequently there remains a need to develop improved functional raw materials for laundry and cleaning products, and for processes to make the same.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a single multifunctional detergent material that can include several, and preferably three or more, of the typical inorganic oxides normally included in laundry and cleaning product, and can have the product functions of these inorganic oxides, such as the functions of a builder, a conditioner, a filler, an alkaline agent, a carrier, or a neutralizing agent.
It is also an object to provide a multifunctional detergent material (hereinafter, xe2x80x9cMFDMxe2x80x9d) containing multiple inorganic oxides, in a single material which is less expensive to manufacture and to use in the making of laundry and cleaning products, and which eliminates the need to add each raw material separately into the process for making the laundry or cleaning product. The addition of each raw material in the process can include the unloading, storage, feeding, and metering of the raw material.
It is yet another object to provide a single multifunctional detergent material which enables accurate control of the delivered level of inorganic oxides into a particular laundry or cleaning product formulation.
It is also an object to provide a multifunctional detergent material for detergent formulations, which can provide unique product performance properties, compared to conventional inorganic oxide mixtures and components.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laundry or cleaning composition or component thereof, containing or made using a single multifunctional detergent material that contains many of the required inorganic oxides for the detergent formulations.
These and other objects and advantages of the product and the process of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and specific examples of the invention.
The present invention provides a multifunctional detergent material, useful in laundry and cleaning product compositions, comprising at least two functional inorganic oxide ingredients selected from phosphorous oxide and silicon dioxide. Preferably the material comprises a phosphate component comprising phosphorus oxide (P2O5) and sodium oxide (Na2O), and a silicate component comprising silicon oxide (SiO2) and sodium oxide. The phosphate component comprises a linear polyphosphate, a cyclic metaphosphate, or mixtures thereof, in addition to other lower phosphates such as orthophosphate and pyrophosphate.